Costs Lawyers and Legal Costs Practitioners

Our highly experienced national team are recognised as experts in their field. We have experience in all areas of costs, specialising in commercial, financial and construction claims, employment and planning disputes, personal injury, public and employers’ liability, housing disrepair, judicial review, HSE prosecutions, clinical negligence and property damage claims.

Costs are a core component of litigation, running through the lifetime of a claim, and can often exceed the value of the dispute itself. Advice is often needed at the outset as to whether it is cost effective to pursue a claim. Costs issues also form part of tactical decision making and negotiations, as well as being crucial at the point of resolution.

About the Costs team

We take a pragmatic and commercial approach to ensure the best, most cost-effective results for our clients. As well as supporting clients in dealing with the recovery or negotiation of costs at the conclusion of contentious disputes, we also provide focused advice throughout the life of a dispute on issues such as costs budgeting, costs protection and tactics.
From large organisations with many costs cases to smaller bodies with few, we prioritise understanding our clients’ requirements and methods of working to best meet your specific needs.

Our Costs team works with a wide range of insurers, public sector organisations and regulatory bodies. We provide advice direct or to in-house legal teams as required.

Bespoke for you

We utilise HighQ, a bespoke client-facing dashboard, for instruction and provision of papers, and maintaining a critical action log and case tracker. This digital solution allows you to monitor a matter and its financial details throughout the life of the case, enables easy monitoring of all deadlines, and helps increase efficiency and reporting.

This approach provides clients with sought-after transparency, reduces unnecessary client/solicitor contact, and minimises risk, ensuring that deadlines are not missed.

The costs team can undertake the following types of work:
- Costs Management
  - Preparation of Precedent H’s (costs budgets)
  - Preparation of Precedent R’s (budget discussion reports)
  - Attendance at Costs Management Conferences
  - Preparation of Precedent T’s (application for significant development)
- Detailed/Provisional Assessment
  - Preparation of Part 8 documents
  - Preparation of Notice of Commencement
  - Drafting Precedent A & S’s (old and new Bills of Costs)
  - Assessments of opposing Bills of Costs
  - Settlement advice and negotiation
  - Preparation of Points of Dispute or Replies
  - Setting matters down for Detailed/Provisional Assessment
  - Advocacy
- Additional Services
  - Preparation of N260’s
  - Preparation of informal breakdowns of costs
  - Preparation of Precedent U’s (for fixed costs determination)
  - Attendance at fixed costs determination hearing
  - Preparation of bills of costs in other jurisdictions
  - Ad hoc advice on cost related issues
  - Settlement strategies
  - Assisting in solicitor client assessments
  - Costs mediation
We offer a range of pricing methods, from standard hourly rates to a percentage saving basis, which tethers our charges to the level of success that we achieve.

Direct instructions and enquiries can be sent to Costs@bevanbrittan.com.
In 2025 we worked with 33 different clients, settling over 1,250 costs claims, with a combined costs saving of £7.15m against total costs claimed of £20.5m.

Examples include:

Local authority

The Claimant slipped on defective flooring in a car park. The matter spanned 32 months, concluding when the Claimant accepted the Defendant’s Part 36 offer of £85,000 4 weeks after the Defence was filed.

The Claimant served a schedule of costs totalling £171,654. Arguments were raised in respect of the rates, conduct and time taken. The Claimant’s costs were reduced to £80,000, representing a saving of £91,654, or over 53%, for the client.

Local government

The Claimant’s bill of costs sought costs of £15,824. The Claimant’s file had been handled by three different firms, and enquiries were made as to the nature of the funding arrangement with each firm. The response received was unpersuasive, and costs could not be agreed. Formal written submissions were made by each party, and the matter proceeded to a hearing, where the court found that there was no clear evidence of a retainer with the final firm of solicitors. A settlement was therefore negotiated at court, with costs being agreed at just £2,600, a saving of £13,224 for the client, and the Claimant recovered less than 17% of their claimed costs.

Insurance

We acted for the Defendant in a claim for personal injury following a road traffic accident. The case was allocated to the multi-track and the parties were required to prepare a Precedent H and Precedent R ahead of the CCMC. The Claimant’s costs budget totalled around £1.4m. We prepared an uncompromising Precedent R seeking to reduce the overall costs to circa £750,000. At the Costs and Case Management Conference, the Claimant’s budget was reduced to £800,000. Maintaining the figures in our Precedent R, and proceeding to the CCMC, significantly reduced our client’s overall costs exposure.